Piastri acknowledges a battle between himself and Norris "will be tight" in 2025

16:00, 15 Apr

byOlly Darcy

Oscar Piastri appreciates that the 2025 Formula 1 title battle "will be tight" between himself and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris and Piastri currently sit first and second in the drivers' world championship, with the Brit on 77 points, three points clear of his Australian teammate on 74.

Three wins out of four have seen the papaya-coloured team dominate the start of the season, clearly the leading car on he grid and setting up the potential for teammates to do battle for the title come the end of the year.

Piastri not getting ahead of himself just yet

After sealing his second win of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Piastri believed that he and Norris could battle it out for the title, but there is still a lot of time left in 2025.

"I thought it started from Melbourne, to be honest," the Australian started by saying. "But yeah, it’s still so early. I think at the moment we’ve got a great car underneath us. I feel like, for the most part, we’ve been able to do a good job with it. I mean, I think we’re in the positions we should be in. I think it’s going to be a tight battle.

"I think there are going to be other contenders. What we’ve seen at the moment is… We’ve not had a consistent challenger week in, week out. It’s kind of been somebody different, which, from the championship point of view, makes life difficult for others. But yeah, I think it’s going to be a tight year, definitely. And I think as long as we have the best car, it’s going to be tight between Lando and I," Piastri continued at the press conference after the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Piastri celebrating his Bahrain Grand Prix victory

Norris responds to Piastri's statements

"Oscar's put it very well, honestly," answered Norris, who was also asked about the potential to battle his teammate for the world championship this campaign. "I think we knew coming into this season – us as a team knew it before the season – that we were going to have some close moments between us and some good fights. And I’m sure we’re going to have more later this year, which I think we’re both excited about.

"So we have to keep working hard as a team to keep ourselves ahead of the rest. Because I’m sure we both prefer it to be just me and him – between us and no one else. As a team, we’d prefer that. It’d probably make our lives easier as a whole. So we’re not forgetting that the competition is close. Yes, we’ve got the best car on the grid and things like this, but one mistake – and I paid the price yesterday. One tenth and I would’ve been second on the grid today, so it’s frustrating.

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"But it’s close, and it’s competitive, and I think that’s a great thing for the sport. But we have to keep working hard as a team. I don’t think we’ve ever let that thought go, with how close some of the previous qualifying sessions have been. With Max on pole, with George only a tenth and a half off yesterday. It’s easy to not do a perfect lap and then not be on pole still. It’s not like we can just cruise around and everything’s groovy. So, we have to keep working hard, and I think we’re excited for the competition between us," concluded the Brit.